Artistic Experiments by Charles Burns

Art Galleries

Sharpie Silhouette Sketches 2021

Introduction

THESE SKETCHES FORM an ongoing series of explorations about the relationship between cutting and drawing. The silhouettes were cut from rapid pencil sketches of people in the street as they hurried by, while the drawings were made in my sketchbook with a set of coloured Sharpies. Strictly speaking, the relationship is between cutting, drawing and digital art, since the drawings and cuttings are combined in Photoshop. This means the works illustrated here are all digital pieces, designed to be illustrated online, as prints or as NFTs.

Sign saying "Reading" with silhouettes below — Reading Station no 2
Entrance to Reading Station with commuter figures

View of Reading station with silhouette commuters passing by — Reading Station no 1
A hot summer lockdown day outside Reading Station

A Fish and Chips shop with two silhouetted figures walking by — Fish & Chips
The silhouettes were first rapidly sketched in pencil as people walked by and then afterwards cut out. Although I work fast with scissors I've always found cutting an image of a moving target really hard

A view The Bite Café with bicycles and silhouettes — The Bite
One sunny afternoon I sat near my local shipping centre with a box of Sharpies, a pencil and some scissors.I drew the shops and cut the people

Dominos pizza parlour with a silhouette of a mother and child — Domino's
I enjoy the colours and simple mark-making abilities of the Sharpie pens

Lloyds Pharmacy and other shops with silhouette figures in front — Lloyds Pharmacy
Translating the shop front signage into Sharpie language appeals to my sense of letting and design. I plan to make more of these as the summer warms up and people start to come out

Three Sharpie rectangles with a figure getting closer to the viewer in each — Zooming In
An exploration of practicing in the "Zoom space" for a Shintaido newsletter. I used a combination of Sharpie and silhouette to create these

THESE GALLERIES ARE DISPLAYED for artistic interest. Many of my art works are available for sale. Others have been sold, bartered or given away over the years. If anything catches your eye, or if you’d like to arrange a studio visit (either real work or virtual) do please get in touch. While the most recent galleries represent ongoing work, you can browse collections of art from various projects over many years here.